TVSquad

I'll admit I have no way of knowing what Paula Abdul's thinking at any given time. Even people who listen to her talk generally have no idea what she's thinking. You have to figure that after negotiating to join So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars and Ugly Betty, Adbul hosting the latest VH1 Divas special on Thursday, September 17 is a bit of a let-down.

It's a great nab for VH1; people will be curious to see her first post-Idol gig. You can even argue that the choice makes sense, considering the concert will feature two former American Idol winners: Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks. Joining them are Adele, Leona Lewis and Miley Cyrus. It doesn't take nearly as much to be a diva these days.

It'll be fun watching Abdul try to steer an entire show rather than just a single coherent sentence of criticism. Who knows, maybe she'll find out that she's great at this and she can take over VH1 the way Ryan Seacrest took over E!. As long as they don't do a Who's That Girl? series with male skanks like Corey Clark trying to date her.

The rotating guest judge slots in the wake of Paula Abdul's departure continue. The latest celebrities guest judging American Idol are Kelly Clarkson and Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. I'm starting to see an upside for the show post-Paula.

With ratings on the decline the past couple of years, it's also been observed that the median age for the show had been getting older as well. As we all know, old people don't exist to advertisers, so youth is where it's at. Kelly Clarkson is a great choice to bring in a hip and young crowd, and she's a great story for the show. Here's their first crowned champion coming back to offer sage advice and wisdom ... or at least a lot of "Y'all!"

Joe Jonas is sure to bring legions of screaming pre-pubescent girls to the screen. And nobody obsesses over stars like pre-pubescent girls. I'd love to see the permanent slot filled by an artist as current and relevant as these two. Maybe Amy Winehouse is available; it'd be like Paula never left!

(S05E12) We're welcomed to the show by Cat Deeley lamenting Thursdays. I'm often confused by Cat mentioning the dancers dancing their "own style." It must have been a Donyelle rule. I guess we'll never see Karla channel her inner Boogie Bot.

The sound quality was off tonight, proving that part of the show was live; when they transitioned from live to the clips, you could hear the echoes. The biggest culprit was the transition to Kelly Clarkson; the audience applause didn't sound the same at all.

Recently, I got the chance to speak with Sam Champion, the affable Good Morning America weatherman. We chatted a bit about GMA's upcoming Summer Concert Series, which is kicking off on May 22. The free concerts have moved from Bryant Park to Central Park this year, which allows for much larger audiences. So you know what that means, right? More space for screaming throngs of Jonas Brothers fans to gather in a central location this summer.

Read the interview to figure out when you need to book your trip to New York, or get the hell out of the city -- depending on your perspective.

(S34E19) It's a great, big homecoming party for Tracy Morgan and he brought enough jaunty delivery for us all. I'll admit, if anyone else were to try and pull off this type of delivery, I'd be pretty annoyed. However, it's Tracy Morgan and he's got this choppy, unrealistic speech down to an art. It has become him, I guess. This episode had a few strong moments here and there, but overall, it was an "all right" episode. At least we got to revisit some old favorites from Tracy Morgan's featured player days.

Now, check out some video highlights from the evening. Also, note to self: I will stop typing "Tracy Jordan", I will stop typing "Tracy Jordan"...

I'm pretty happy with the results tonight. I feel like America and the judges made the right call. And it isn't just up to America anymore. As Seacrest told us, there's a new American Idol rule. When someone is eliminated by America's vote, the judges have the ability to keep the person in the competition. It's designed to be used when America goes insane and votes people like LaToya London and Chris Daughtry off, people who deserve to stay in the competition. As I understand it, this option can only be used one time. Thankfully, the judges didn't use it tonight.

We also got to see the cool new digs where the Idols are staying. It's a ginormous mansion, complete with a swimming pool (or two), basketball court, bowling alley, hot tubs, the whole shebang. Looks like a very cool place to de-stress after being called to center stage to await your fate.

Confession time: I was scared when the call came from on high to help cover American Idol this year. Yes, I've watched it from the beginning and got wrapped up with the whole Kelly/Justin thing like the rest of the country, and unlike the rest of the country, I actually saw From Justin to Kelly (thank you, $5 WalMart DVD bin). After the first few seasons, however, I started to lose interest.

I was right there when Ruben and Carrie won, but was in no way a member of "The Soul Patrol." I didn't really care which David took the crown, and I didn't exactly rush out to see Fantasia on Broadway. After seven seasons, all of the contestants started to look the same to me. Everyone ran together, and no one stood out. I know that Daughtry has gone on to have a decent career, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you which season he was on. It was all white noise.

That is, until Nick Mitchell came on the scene.

(S08E09) Seacrest begins the show with some cold, sexy numbers. We started this season with over 103,000 American Idol hopefuls, and now, going into the last night of Hollywood week, we're down to 72. Now that we're under the century mark, we get to be fancy: the contestants have backup singers, bands, and can play instruments if they want.

The way they're doing this is pretty hardcore: Each singer takes the stage, but receives no feedback afterward. Since this is their last chance, it kind of doesn't matter if Simon makes them cry, or Randy calls them Dawg. Either they're good enough or they're not. After they're finished singing, they have to wait until the end of the day, when the entire group is broken up into two groups: those who are going forward, and those who are not. Or, those who are immediately fading into obscurity and those who will fade more slowly, singing some goofy songs while hamming it up in some sort of Ford vehicle on the way.

The premiere of American Idol's new season is tonight; can you stand it? Last year brought us a format change with the addition of instruments; this year, we have a new judge. Controversy has been following Kara DioGuardi since she was named AI's fourth judge. Is she taking Paula's place? Are there catfights? Will she screw up the balance of the show?

To help drum up enthusiasm about the new season and ostensibly to answer some of these questions, FOX set up a conference call with Kara. Unsurprisingly, she stayed as far away from minefields as humanly possible, instead gushing about how wonderful everyone on the show is and how well they all get along, and blah blah blah, puppies and rainbows. Luckily, she also chatted about what she thinks of the newest crop of contestants as well as past Idols.

Welcome to the final installment of "AI Aftermath," where we explore Idol's past. Each installment, as one more American Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated at the same point. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their eliminations. In honor of David Cook's crowning as your American Idol, we will look back at other winners.

This week: The Winners, featuring Kelly Clarkson (Season One), Ruben Studdard (Season Two), Fantasia Barrino (Season Three), Carrie Underwood (Season Four), Taylor Hicks (Season Five) and Jordin Sparks (Season Six).

Going into last night's finale of American Idol, I was very excited to see the Davids battle each other for the title. It was the first American Idol in a while that did not have an obvious winner at the outset. Even though it really was David Archuleta's night, I still hold out hope that David Cook might pull out a win. He's the one with the most potential and is the better performer. Little Archuleta has that killer voice, though.

Anyway, last night's epic battle got me thinking about past American Idol finales and whether any of them were this much of a contest. It seems like we've gone into most of the American Idol finales with obvious winners. Here's a breakdown of the past American Idol finales, and whether they stack up to last night's performances:

Clay Aiken's career track is an interesting one. For someone with my musical tastes and interests, he virtually disappeared after his season of American Idol was over. His act is really just not for me. Unlike so many other also-rans from the show though, a couple times a year, he pops up again. Clay is performing here. He's sold another million albums there. And along the way he's managed to build one of the most devoted fan bases anyone could ask for.

That brings us to the latest rise of Clay on to the radar for the rest of us. He's kicking off the release of his fourth studio album next Monday, with an appearance on QVC. I'm reminded of Arsenio and the old "things that make you go hmmm" bit. I'm not sure I get it, but we should probably just not question Clay's judgment. He seems to be doing alright. He's never going to have the media exposure of Kelly Clarkson, but he's not going to just fade away either.

[ via E! Online ]

How much cooler would it be to send your stalker letter to Kelly Clarkson with a Kelly Clarkson stamp? As Ryan Seacrest announced on last night's American Idol "Idol Gives Back" special, PhotoStamps has inked a deal with the show to produce commemorative stamps featuring the likenesses of each of the Idol winners so far, including this year's winner. In fact, Kelly Clarkson's PhotoStamp is already available, with subsequent stamps released each Tuesday.

So if you're planning to kidnap one of Kelly's hats and send her a ransom note with cut-out letters from various newspaper articles about her, demanding that she go out on a date with you if she ever wants to see it again, go that extra mile and show her you really care in that extra-special creepy way by using a Kelly Clarkson PhotoStamp! Remember, net proceeds from the sales of these stamps go to charity. And while you may be crazy, that doesn't mean you don't care!

Here are seven people who used their reality TV notoriety to their advantage. They have found success in other TV genres, film, or entrepreneurial pursuits. Some just found more fame in the genre that put them on thee map.

7. Colleen Haskell (Survivor): Colleen was in the first season of Survivor (Borneo) and while she didn't outwit, outplay and outlast the other cast members, she did make a good run of her fifteen minutes. She finished sixth in her season but was such a genuine and fair player that when her torch was extinguished Richard Hatch called her a "wonderful person." Using her American-apple-pie-pretty-girl-next-door appearance and attitude, she parlayed her reality TV fame into more roles in both television and film. She did a Blistex commercial and had a guest spot on That 70's Show. Most notably, however, she starred alongside Rob Schneider in The Animal (2001). Pretty good for a Catholic school girl from a small town in Maryland.

We've already seen Survivor and Big Brother go the all-star route. And The Amazing Race is getting set to kick off their own version. Heck, it seems like every time I click by MTV there is another show filled with past Road Rules and Real World cast members. So why not American Idol?

According to TV Guide, Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe is trying to sell Fox on the concept. It's part of the planned songwriting competition. Lythgoe's idea is to narrow those entries down to ten songs and then bring in ten former Idol contestants to sing the songs on the show.

I'm not an Idol fan, but I have to say, that's a solid idea. I'm guessing they won't be able to get Kelly Clarkson, and chances are Jennifer Hudson won't be involved. But assuming that they can manage to get ten of the more popular contestants, this should make for another huge week of ratings. And an American Idol All-Stars CD... And an American Idol All-Stars Special Edition DVD... And... good grief, Idol is just a machine. At this point it's rivaled only by the power of Harry Potter.